Explaining Gender Differences in Crime: Opportunities, Socialization, and Stereotypes, Study Guides, Projects, Research of Sociology

Download Explaining Gender Differences in Crime: Opportunities, Socialization, and Stereotypes and more Study Guides, Projects, Research Sociology in PDF only on Docsity! Explanations for Patterns of Crime: Gender Opportunities for criminal behaviour * Female involvement in criminal activity is not restricted to a few areas. While females do not tend to commit crimes of violence (violence by females tends to occur within the family, mainly as a final response to male violence), they are involved in a wide cross- section of crime. * Therefore, while, in theory, women have similar opportunities as men to commit crime these may be limited by other factors… * In terms of the ratio of conviction between females and males, where women have similar opportunities for criminal behaviour in relation to males, their respective patterns of crimes appear to be broadly similar: For example, where female crime most-closely approximates to male crime is in relation to shop-lifting and it's no coincidence that in this area of their social lives women have similar opportunities for crime to men. * Marsh ("Sociology In Focus: Crime", 1986): "In areas where females have similar opportunities to men they appear as likely to break laws” Opportunity Structures * Where opportunity structures differ, so too does the pattern of crime: For example, burglary is predominantly a male crime and one way of explaining the difference is that this type of crime tends to be a relatively solitary pursuit that takes place late at night. A female alone late at night is both more-likely to: Attract attention and / or Involve some degree of personal danger. * Employment related crime: Fewer women than men work, therefore, less opportunity exists. Women tend to occupy less powerful positions within an organisation. They are more-likely to be subject to close supervision, have less opportunity for acting on their own initiative, unsupervised and so forth. Hence, they generally have less opportunity for committing "white-collar" crimes such as fraud, embezzlement, etc. * Women are more-likely than men to have primary responsibility for child-care, which restricts opportunities for various types of criminal behaviour Explanations for Patterns of Crime: Gender Primary / Secondary Socialisation * Male gender socialization prompts men to be more aggressive and more-likely to solve p[problems using violence. * Female gender socialization prompts women to be less aggressive and more-likely to see=k non-violent solutions to problems. * Peer pressure: Different influences for males (eg gang / street-corner behaviour) and females (bedroom culture: McIntosh) * Male socialisation stresses active, individualistic, behaviour * Female socialisation stresses passive, sharing / caring, behaviour * Media emphasises male role as “breadwinner” / “family provider” may increase pressure on men. * Media emphasises female role as “carer” decreases pressure on women to act as family provider. * Marsh ("Sociology In Focus: Crime", 1986): "In the world of organised, professional, crime, sex-segregation is the norm. Women are likely to be viewed in terms of traditional sex-role stereotypes, as unreliable, emotional, illogical and so on. Moreover, males tend to see the crimes they commit as too dangerous for women, or too difficult, or their masculine pride may not be willing to accept women as organisers of crime, as 'bosses'". Social Control Agencies * Much female crime involves "sexual delinquency" (especially "status offences" - running away from home, being in "moral danger" and so forth). It involves behaviour which, in the adult world is not classified as criminal / delinquent. This may account for a great deal of young female "crime" and also explains why older females do not appear to commit as much crime as older males. * This form of explanation focuses upon the idea that females in our society are socialised and controlled differently to males. Female socialisation stresses passivity as a feminine characteristic (which might help to explain something about the relative lack of female violence) . Abbott and Wallace ("An Introduction To Sociology: Feminist Perspectives", 1990) note female behaviour is more closely watched / strictly controlled within the family. * Female sexuality is more heavily "policed" than young male sexual behaviour. * As females are given more freedom we would expect them to become involved in various forms of criminal behaviour. Police and judicial expectations may be significant, since if the police start to see females differently, the likely development is greater levels of arrest and criminalisation. This appears to be happening, insofar as more females are being subjected to a process of criminalisation. * Men have greater freedom within the family than women, giving more opportunity to commit crimes. Eg: Young women: parents restrict who they associate with / control times they can associate with friends etc. Adult women: freedom may be limited by family responsibilities.